ESSAY OF THE WEEK
The Carbon Underground: Reversing Global Warming
“If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current levels [398 ppm.] to at most 350 ppm…” - Dr. James Hansen
Since Dr. James Hansen, a leading climatologist, warned in 2008 that we need to reduce the amount of CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere to 350 parts-per-million (ppm) in order to preserve life on Earth, little has been done to get us there.
It’s getting late. If we’re going to preserve a livable Earth, we the global grassroots, must do more than mitigate global warming.
We must reverse it.
But how?
Hint number one: not by politely asking out-of-control corporations and politicians to please stop destroying the planet.
Hint number two: not by pinning our hopes for survival and climate stability on hi-tech, unproven and dangerous, “solutions” such as genetic engineering, geoengineering, or carbon capture and sequestration for coal plants.
Hint number three: not by naively believing that soon (or soon enough) ordinary consumers all over the planet will spontaneously abandon their cars, air travel, air conditioning, central heating, and fossil fuel-based diets and lifestyles just in time to prevent atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases from moving past the tipping point of 450 ppm or more of CO2 to the catastrophic point of no return.
We can reverse climate change by sequestering several hundred billion tons of excess CO2 using the “tools” we already have at hand: regenerative, organic farming, ranching and land use.
And we can make this world-changing transition by mobilizing a vast green corps of farmers, ranchers, gardeners, consumers, climate activists and conservationists to begin the monumental task of moving the Carbon Behemoth safely back underground.
COOK ORGANIC NOT THE PLANET
Move Over, Meatless Mondays
Here come Factory Farm Free Fridays.
Every time you sit down in a restaurant, or grill a steak, scramble an egg, or drink a glass of milk at home, you’re undermining your health, and contributing to environmental contamination, global warming and animal torture.
You’re also fattening Monsanto’s bottom line—because 90 percent of America’s non-organic animal feed comes from genetically engineered crops.
Unless, of course, you choose meat, egg and dairy products that were not produced on a factory farm. (Or you eat a vegan diet).
Today’s factory farm model is a disaster. And the premise on which it was founded—cheap food—has proven false.
A system that dumps tons of untreated waste into waterways, that puts the public at risk of antibiotic-resistant “superbugs,” that contributes to poor personal health, that pollutesentire communities (usually poor and rural), that makes workers sick, that is fueled by unsustainable GMO crops that can only be grown using increasingly toxic chemicals, and that contributes more greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere than the entire transportation industry, is not cheap.
Someone is paying for the environmental cleanup. The healthcare costs. The government (taxpayer)-subsidized GMO crops. The extreme droughts, floods, hurricanes and temperatures caused by global warming.
That somebody is you, the consumer.
Fortunately, consumers have the power to bring down the factory farms. Let’s get started.
TAKE ACTION: Take the 4F “Factory Farm Free Friday” Pledge!
Read the press release
ACTION ALERT
Where Are the Farmers?
Crowds of people—representing climate scientists, government officials, and environmental, food and justice activists—will convene in New York City this weekend for official meetings. Some of them will also take part in the People’s Climate March and the Global Climate Convergence.
But one voice will be largely missing from the conversation: the voice representing small organic farmers and pastoralists.
Why do we need the farmer’s voice at a global climate meeting?
Because the world's two-and-a-half billion small and indigenous farmers have a message of hope for the doom-and-gloom climate movement.
The message is this: Small organic farmers can cool the planet. But only if they have a voice in the global climate conversation.
COOK ORGANIC NOT THE PLANET
Resist, March, Plant
“Our seeds are seeds of resistance—let us plant them together.” – Vandana Shiva
On Sunday, Sept. 21, Vandana Shiva will march with OCA under our “Cook Organic Not the Planet” banner as we bring our message of hope to thePeople’s Climate March in New York City.
Want to join us? The first 200 people to RSVPwill receive a free “Cook Organic Not the Planet” T-shirt.
We’ll gather Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at 72nd and Central Park West in New York City. Please use this form to RSVP. We’ll follow up with meet-up details and updates for the march.
In a recent essay on organic agriculture and climate change, Vandana Shiva wrote:
“We must move away from industrial, chemical-intensive agriculture and a centralised, global commodity-based food system that contributes to emissions. In place of biodiversity destroying industrial monocultures, including those based on GMO seeds, we need a shift to agroecological practices that conserve biodiversity and ensure biosafety. A transition to biodiversity-intensive, ecologically-intensive agriculture addresses both the climate crisis and the biodiversity crisis simultaneously, while also addressing the food crisis.”
We agree. And we’re honored that Vandana has chosen to march with us. Hope to see you there!
(Note: On Saturday Sept. 20, OCA will host a track of workshops at the NYC Climate Convergenceon topics related to the role organic farming—and organic consumers—can play in reversing climate change. Workshop speakers and leaders will include Ronnie Cummins, OCA; Elizabeth Kucinich, Center for Food Safety; Anna Lappé, Small Planet Institute; Nancy Romer, Brooklyn Food Coalition; Will Allen, Cedar Circle Farm, and many others. All workshops will be held at St. John's University, 51 Astor Place, New York, NY 10003, Room: CNCRSE C06).
Sign up to march with Vandana Shiva and OCA
SUPPORT OCA & OCF
Everybodyness
Populism: “For some 238 years, it has been the chief political impulse in America's body politick—determinedly democratic, vigilantly resistant to the oppressive power of corporations and Wall Street, committed to grassroots percolate-up economics, and firmly rooted in my old daddy's concept of "Everybodyness," recognizing that we're all in this together.” – Jim Hightower
When it comes to honest, plain speaking, nobody does it better than Jim Hightower.
When it comes to recognizing that we’re all in this together, nobody does it better than you, the people who built the organic food and farming and GMO labeling movement.
Thank you. For pulling together. Again. This time for Oregon and Colorado, where we face our next two most critical labeling battles.
This past week, Pepsi dumped $250,000 into the anti-labeling campaign in Oregon. The tip of the campaign-contribution iceberg, we suspect, if Big Food donations in past campaigns are any indication.
Also this week, the USDA signed off on yet another of Dow’s GMO crops, paving the way for a fifty-fold increase in the use of the chemical company’s toxic “Agent Orange” 2,4-D herbicide.
If ever there were a time for a whole of “Everybodyness” it’s now. Thank you!
Donate to the Organic Consumers Association (tax-deductible, helps support our work on behalf of organic standards, fair trade and public education)
Donate to the Organic Consumers Fund (non-tax-deductible, but necessary for our legislative efforts in Oregon, Colorado and other states)
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Oh, Yeah!
In the lead-up to this weekend’s climate events in New York City, the Rev. Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping has been getting out the word about the People’s Climate March, the Global Climate Convergence and OCA’s “Cook Organic Not the Planet” campaign.
REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE
Read All About It
It’s time to move beyond the notion of “sustainable” agriculture to a model of agriculture that restores and rejuvenates soils, farms, economies and communities.
And reverses global warming.
So what is “regenerative agriculture”? Dr. Christine Jones, who founded Amazing Carbon, describesregenerative agriculture as a diverse set of farming practices that replenish and reactivate the soil. “When agriculture is regenerative, soils, water, vegetation and productivity continually improve rather than staying the same or slowly getting worse.”
This week, as all eyes focus on the global climate summit in New York City, is a good time to read up on how organic, regenerative agriculture can take much of the excess carbon out of the atmosphere, and put it back in the soil. Where it can nurture, instead of destroy us.
We’ve started an annotated bibliography on regenerative agriculture, and plan to expand it as more research comes out.
More on regenerative agriculture
LITTLE BYTES
Essential Reading for the Week
Pro-GMO Industries Increase Spending to Thwart US GMO Labeling
Herbicide and Insecticide Use on GMO Crops Skyrocketing While Pro-GMO Media Run Interference
Syngenta Asks EPA to Increase Allowable Levels of Neonics
Fracking or Drinking Water? That May Become the Choice
Special Report: Poultry Firms Systematically Feed Low-Dose Antibiotics to Flocks
Comments